1. U.S. Code
  2. title 1
  3. chapter 1
  4. § 2

Collapse to view only § 2. “County” as including “parish”, and so forth

§ 1. Words denoting number, gender, and so forth

In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise—

words importing the singular include and apply to several persons, parties, or things;

words importing the plural include the singular;

words importing the masculine gender include the feminine as well;

words used in the present tense include the future as well as the present;

the words “insane” and “insane person” shall include every idiot, insane person, and person non compos mentis;

the words “person” and “whoever” include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;

“officer” includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office;

“signature” or “subscription” includes a mark when the person making the same intended it as such;

“oath” includes affirmation, and “sworn” includes affirmed;

“writing” includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 633; June 25, 1948, ch. 645, § 6, 62 Stat. 859; Oct. 31, 1951, ch. 655, § 1, 65 Stat. 710; Pub. L. 112–231, § 2(a), Dec. 28, 2012, 126 Stat. 1619.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 1

§ 2. “County” as including “parish”, and so forth

The word “county” includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 633.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 2

§ 3. “Vessel” as including all means of water transportation

The word “vessel” includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 633.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 3

§ 4. “Vehicle” as including all means of land transportation

The word “vehicle” includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 633.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 4

§ 5. “Company” or “association” as including successors and assigns

The word “company” or “association”, when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words “successors and assigns of such company or association”, in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 633.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 5

§ 6. Limitation of term “products of American fisheries”

Wherever, in the statutes of the United States or in the rulings, regulations, or interpretations of various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States there appears or may appear the term “products of American fisheries” said term shall not include fresh or frozen fish fillets, fresh or frozen fish steaks, or fresh or frozen slices of fish substantially free of bone (including any of the foregoing divided into sections), produced in a foreign country or its territorial waters, in whole or in part with the use of the labor of persons who are not residents of the United States.

(July 30, 1947, ch. 388, 61 Stat. 634.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 6

§ 7. Marriage
(a) For the purposes of any Federal law, rule, or regulation in which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered married if that individual’s marriage is between 2 individuals and is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage is between 2 individuals and is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage could have been entered into in a State.
(b) In this section, the term “State” means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States.
(c) For purposes of subsection (a), in determining whether a marriage is valid in a State or the place where entered into, if outside of any State, only the law of the jurisdiction applicable at the time the marriage was entered into may be considered.
(Added Pub. L. 104–199, § 3(a), Sept. 21, 1996, 110 Stat. 2419; amended Pub. L. 117–228, § 5, Dec. 13, 2022, 136 Stat. 2306.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 7

§ 8. “Person”, “human being”, “child”, and “individual” as including born-alive infant
(a) In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the words “person”, “human being”, “child”, and “individual”, shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.
(b) As used in this section, the term “born alive”, with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affirm, deny, expand, or contract any legal status or legal right applicable to any member of the species homo sapiens at any point prior to being “born alive” as defined in this section.
(Added Pub. L. 107–207, § 2(a), Aug. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 926.)

CITE AS: 1 USC 8